Following bribery allegations, the South Korean President's brother Lee Sang-deuk was questioned by authorities in a bank graft probe. Almost immediately, South Koreans took their speculation online, with some strongly suggesting that the President himself could be deeply involved in the corruption cases, alluding that his brother might be a scapegoat in a wider scandal.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak waving at his inauguration. Image by Flickr user hojusaram, (CC BY SA 2.0)

Many questioned where the chain of corruption conveniently ends: at Lee himself, who already faces several charges against him, including receiving illegal political funds from major corporations since his bother's inauguration. As soon as the news broke, many net users started calling him the ‘Tail,’ playing off the the fact that a lizard can cut its own tail to escape, when in danger or under threat, but the lizard itself remains intact, ready to grow a new tail. [note: South Koreans often use the word ‘the Body’ to describe the powers that actual control things behind the scene, as opposed to the ‘Tail’ which can be abandoned and sacrificed to protect the main body.]

When their corruption is revealed, the Saenuri Party and the presidential house will immediately cut their tails off and begin calling the tails with new names such as a ‘former-Secretary’, ‘former law maker’ and ‘ex-party member.’ Pretty soon, they will habitually call former-lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk as Lee Myung-bak's ‘former-brother’.

Lee further set off a firestorm of rage with his denial and unrepentant attitude. @sidagasomocked [ko] Lee Sang-Deuk's remarks on the bribe:

이상득 “부정한 돈은 받지 않았다.” 돈은 원래 깨끗한 거야 돈이 무슨 죄가 있어 너같은 넘이 받으니까 부정해지는 거야

Lee Sang -Deuk said “I have not received any ‘dirty money’.” Money itself is clean. Money has done nothing wrong. Because guys like you exist, the money gets dirty.

Lee Myung-bak's elder brother Lee Sang-deuk claimed that he received several hundred million Korean Won from savings banks without any promise of a return in favor. Since when are [our] savings banks so into the social welfare of the elderly? [note: the elderly refers to Lee's brother who is 76 years old.] It is truly amazing. They spent several million won on this social welfare business. If we are living in a nation with such a good social welfare system -like this one- I cannot wait to get older.

[This case exhibits] Lee Sang-Deuk and his family's unscrupulous arrogance, self-righteousness and shamelessness, their exploitation and manipulation and flip-flopping and hypocrisy — a package of all the evils our society has to get rid of. And their reaction [to these series of allegations] can be summarized in this one sentence: ‘So what?’ Their moral hazard is inherent and incurable.

Many suspected Lee Sang-deuk's allegations would be directly linked to his brother, the President, and went further suggesting that Lee is just a political scapegoat to cover up bigger allegations. @kjoseph_juncalled out [ko] for wider investigation:

Investigation on Lee Sang-Deuk should not be restricted at an individual level, but should continue to function as a judgement on the Lee administration's allegation and corruption packages. We need to punish those people not for grabbing power, but for wielding their power to exercise the right to various privileges.

On South Korea's biggest political forum, Daum Agora, a web page [ko] was launched to start a discussion about this allegation, where net user ROKA wrote:

오래전 아고라에 어떤분이 올린 글이 생각나내 임기내에 형이 다 뒤집어쓰고 들어갈거라고… 점쟁이도 아니고 참 대단해.

I remember reading a post by someone in Daum Agora quite long ago. The post predicted the elder brother will take all the blame and be imprisoned during Lee's presidency. That guy beats a fortune-teller.

Net users also urged the Prosecutor's Office to delve deeper and more thoroughly. Another net user ANDY wrote on the same page:

땅에 떨어진 검찰 위상 이번 기회에 조금이라도 만회하길 바랍니다. 또 어떤 궤변이 나올지 궁금하기도 하지만…

I really hope the Prosecutor's office whose reputation has been smeared, grab this chance to recover their old glory. Also, another part of me is expecting to hear convoluted rhetoric from them.

It was in 2007, during the presidential campaign period that Lee Sang-deuk received the money from the chairmen of the savings banks. And the middle-men involved in this act are Jeong Doo-un and Kim Duck-yong who were both main members of Lee's political campaign team. But still the Prosecutor's Office refuses to investigate the President's campaign fund, saying that ‘it is hard to track where the cash was spent’. Yeah. We really cannot expect much from those prosecutors.

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